Up-cycling Blog PostWhether you’re into recycling for the environment or for saving money, the up-cycling craze has hit. A new idea? No, but a useful one. The idea of dismantling things and creating something new and useful takes a little creativity and ingenuity. Once upon a time, outgrown or worn sweaters were unraveled to reuse the good parts of the yarn. If you have ever spun yarn by hand, you appreciate the amount of work that went into making just a small amount of yarn. Who would throw that away? Good yarn is expensive, why waste it? Thinking of other expensive things that might have a little life left in them, are you a Dansko fan? What do Danksos have to do with yarn? Well if you’re like me, I love all things knitted including all those cute tall knitted boots that I see adorning department store shelves. I, however, am devoutly bonded to my Danskos. Well, I started thinking about some of my Dansko sandals in which the tops wore out before the soles. You get the idea. I just had to up-cycle! I used new wool but you could just as easily use recycled yarn. I am now the proud wearer of Pink cabled knitted boots! How did I do it? Materials: 500 yards worsted weight yarnU.S. Size 8 needles, cable needle2, 14" zippers2/3 yard of lightweight fleece for liningThe soles from one pair of Danskos(c) or other solesStaple GunMeasuring TapeYou will need to measure the height of your lower leg to just below your knee and the circumference around the top of your lower leg below the knee. It is possible to adapt a sock pattern by eliminating knitting the sole of the sock. I recommend you make your own design though. Do a sample stitch gauge in a desired pattern and apply it to your measurements. You can knit it as a tube or flat and add side gussets and a zipper as I did. You will also want to line the inside to give it some structure. The boot will need to fit tightly over the top of your foot so it will stay securely and safely on your foot. If it comes out too loose, you can always add a strap to the boot across the top of your foot. Hiding a piece of leather inside the lining will give it structure if needed. For that matter you can always leave the sandal intact and attach the boot over the top. In this case, I lightly felted the boot (a good reason to use wool) to make it fit snuggly enough. Other shoe brands of soles will also work as long as they have a thick dense sole that you can staple into. If you don't have a staple gun, no worries. Using thumb tacks or upholstery nail heads would also have an appealing effect. Let your imagination go!!! Enjoy your one of a kind, uniquely you, up-cycled boots!!!

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